--- title: Getting Started type: index weight: 2 --- ## Requirements - [Git](https://git-scm.com/downloads) - [Docker](https://www.docker.com/products/docker/) [ >= 17.12 ] ## Installation Choose the setup the best suits your needs. - [A) Setup for Single Project](#A) - [A.1) Already have a PHP project](#A1) - [A.2) Don't have a PHP project yet](#A2) - [B) Setup for Multiple Projects](#B) ### A) Setup for Single Project > (Follow these steps if you want a separate Docker environment for each project) ### A.1) Already have a PHP project: 1 - Clone laradock on your project root directory: ```bash git submodule add https://github.com/Laradock/laradock.git ``` Note: If you are not using Git yet for your project, you can use `git clone` instead of `git submodule `. *To keep track of your Laradock changes, between your projects and also keep Laradock updated [check these docs](/documentation/#track-your-laradock-changes)* 2 - Make sure your folder structure should look like this: ``` * project-a * laradock-a * project-b * laradock-b ``` *(It's important to rename the laradock folders to unique name in each project, if you want to run laradock per project).* 3 - Go to the [Usage](#Usage) section. ### A.2) Don't have a PHP project yet: 1 - Clone this repository anywhere on your machine: ```bash git clone https://github.com/laradock/laradock.git ``` Your folder structure should look like this: ``` * laradock * project-z ``` 2 - Edit your web server sites configuration. We'll need to do step 1 of the [Usage](#Usage) section now to make this happen. ``` cp .env.example .env ``` At the top, change the `APP_CODE_PATH_HOST` variable to your project path. ``` APP_CODE_PATH_HOST=../project-z/ ``` Make sure to replace `project-z` with your project folder name. 3 - Go to the [Usage](#Usage) section. ### B) Setup for Multiple Projects: > (Follow these steps if you want a single Docker environment for all your projects) 1 - Clone this repository anywhere on your machine (similar to [Steps A.2. from above](#A2)): ```bash git clone https://github.com/laradock/laradock.git ``` Your folder structure should look like this: ``` * laradock * project-1 * project-2 ``` 2 - Go to your web server and create config files to point to different project directory when visiting different domains: For **Nginx** go to `nginx/sites`, for **Apache2** `apache2/sites`. Laradock by default includes some sample files for you to copy `app.conf.example`, `laravel.conf.example` and `symfony.conf.example`. 3 - change the default names `*.conf`: You can rename the config files, project folders and domains as you like, just make sure the `root` in the config files, is pointing to the correct project folder name. 4 - Add the domains to the **hosts** files. ``` 127.0.0.1 project-1.test 127.0.0.1 project-2.test ... ``` If you use Chrome 63 or above for development, don't use `.dev`. [Why?](https://laravel-news.com/chrome-63-now-forces-dev-domains-https). Instead use `.localhost`, `.invalid`, `.test`, or `.example`. 4 - Go to the [Usage](#Usage) section. ## Usage **Read Before starting:** If you are using **Docker Toolbox** (VM), do one of the following: - Upgrade to Docker [Native](https://www.docker.com/products/docker) for Mac/Windows (Recommended). Check out [Upgrading Laradock](/documentation/#upgrading-laradock) - Use Laradock v3.\*. Visit the [Laradock-ToolBox](https://github.com/laradock/laradock/tree/LaraDock-ToolBox) branch. *(outdated)*
We recommend using a Docker version which is newer than 1.13.
>**Warning:** If you used an older version of Laradock it's highly recommended to rebuild the containers you need to use [see how you rebuild a container](#Build-Re-build-Containers) in order to prevent as much errors as possible.
1 - Enter the laradock folder and copy `.env.example` to `.env` ```shell cp .env.example .env ``` You can edit the `.env` file to choose which software's you want to be installed in your environment. You can always refer to the `docker-compose.yml` file to see how those variables are being used. Depending on the host's operating system you may need to change the value given to `COMPOSE_FILE`. When you are running Laradock on Mac OS the correct file separator to use is `:`. When running Laradock from a Windows environment multiple files must be separated with `;`. By default the containers that will be created have the current directory name as suffix (e.g. `laradock_workspace_1`). This can cause mixture of data inside the container volumes if you use laradock in multiple projects. In this case, either read the guide for [multiple projects](#B) or change the variable `COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME` to something unique like your project name. 2 - Build the environment and run it using `docker-compose` In this example we'll see how to run NGINX (web server) and MySQL (database engine) to host a PHP Web Scripts: ```bash docker-compose up -d nginx mysql ``` **Note**: All the web server containers `nginx`, `apache` ..etc depends on `php-fpm`, which means if you run any of them, they will automatically launch the `php-fpm` container for you, so no need to explicitly specify it in the `up` command. If you have to do so, you may need to run them as follows: `docker-compose up -d nginx php-fpm mysql`. You can select your own combination of containers from [this list](http://laradock.io/introduction/#supported-software-images). *(Please note that sometimes we forget to update the docs, so check the `docker-compose.yml` file to see an updated list of all available containers).*
3 - Enter the Workspace container, to execute commands like (Artisan, Composer, PHPUnit, Gulp, ...) ```bash docker-compose exec workspace bash ``` *Alternatively, for Windows PowerShell users: execute the following command to enter any running container:* ```bash docker exec -it {workspace-container-id} bash ``` **Note:** You can add `--user=laradock` to have files created as your host's user. Example: ```shell docker-compose exec --user=laradock workspace bash ``` *You can change the PUID (User id) and PGID (group id) variables from the `.env` file)*
4 - Update your project configuration to use the database host Open your PHP project's `.env` file or whichever configuration file you are reading from, and set the database host `DB_HOST` to `mysql`: ```env DB_HOST=mysql ``` You need to use the Laradock's default DB credentials which can be found in the `.env` file (ex: `MYSQL_USER=`). Or you can change them and rebuild the container. *If you want to install Laravel as PHP project, see [How to Install Laravel in a Docker Container](#Install-Laravel).*
5 - Open your browser and visit your localhost address. Make sure you add use the right port number as provided by your running server. [http://localhost](http://localhost) If you followed the multiple projects setup, you can visit `http://project-1.test/` and `http://project-2.test/`.